In the Open
by DharmaMotorPool
Summary: "Don't you get it, Lightman? Jealousy! She's the monarch. The real thing, the one you should be with, and yet you're chasing everything in a skirt...everything but her." Eli makes Cal realize what he's not willing to lose. Extended ending for 3x04.


**A/N: Well what else would this be? Fluff, of course. Just what I wish would have happened at the end of 3x04. Slight spoilers for the episode, if you haven't seen it yet…and Loker the Matchmaker. Hmmm. Enjoy!**

Cal charged down the hall after leaving Gillian's office, heading towards his own as if on a mission. In his state, he nearly plowed over Loker, though he failed to notice this. "Hey!" Eli shouted, his arms up as if asking, 'what the hell was that?' When Cal just kept walking, Eli followed him into his office, "You wanna tell me what's got you so distracted?"

"Wha'?" Cal asked in confusion, spinning around to face him.

"You're completely out of it – or more so than usual. What's going on?"

"Who are you, my wife? Since when do I divulge personal details to you, eh?" Cal retorted, "Off you go, then."

"It's Foster, isn't it," Eli said, not bothering to pose it as a question, because he already knew the answer. There had been a considerable amount of tension between the two for weeks now, and he, for one, was growing tired of it. Maybe it was time to step in…

Cal was caught off-guard by Loker's comment, which Eli noted. "Oh what, you thought Ria and I hadn't noticed how tense things have been around here lately? You know, first it's you and the crooked cop, then your whole flirtation with the leggy blonde thief…it really doesn't take a rocket scientist – or a deception expert – to figure out what's going on, here."

"What are you talkin' about, exactly?" Cal cut in, stepping closer to him, staring him down.

"Don't you get it, Lightman?" Eli asked, almost confounded by Cal's apparent lack of understanding, "Jealousy! _She's_ the monarch. The _real_ thing, the one you should be with, and yet you're chasing everything in a skirt…everything but _her_," he said, searching Cal's face and finally reaching a realization, "But you knew that already…"

"Of course I bloody _knew_ that! How can anyone know her and _not_ know that?" Cal retorted.

"Then…what are you so afraid of?" Loker pressed. To his way of thinking, Cal and Gillian were merely a married couple who simply had yet to actually be married. Or have sex. But first things first.

"I'm not _scared_, you wanker. I don't _deserve_ her."

"Oh come on, that's a deflection, not to mention a complete load of _crap_, and you know it. I'm not the only one who sees how perfect the two of you are for each other. _Everyone_ seems to see it but the two of you. So, you have two options. You can keep chasing after the viceroys and getting poisoned, or you can land yourself a bona fide monarch."

"When exactly did you become the love guru 'round here, eh? Why do you care so much about whether or not this happens?"

"Because I care about Foster very much, and, despite the way you treat me 99% of the time, I care about you, too. And you _are_ scared – but it's because you know that I'm right, that this is the one relationship that you can actually make work, and you're terrified of that."

"Don't psychoanalyze me, Loker, alrigh'? you don't know nuffin' about my relationship with Gill."

"I know enough," he retorted, "And I _see_ enough. I saw how protective you were of her when you thought her ex husband was cheating. I saw the way you watched her walk every time she left the room. I saw how jealous you were of Burns. I saw how much it hurt her when you took up with Wallowski. I saw the way your eyes lit up when you saw her at that museum gala. The way you've been looking at her for _years_, even when she was married and you weren't supposed to look. Even when _you_ were married and you weren't supposed to look," Cal had to shrug in agreement. He couldn't very well deny Loker's observations; they were pure fact, and both men knew it.

Eli continued, "She looks at you the same way. For some reason, that incredible woman thinks that _you're_ the best thing since sliced bread, and if I'm being totally honest, here, no, maybe you _don't_ deserve her. You haven't exactly been treating her the way she deserves lately. You sweep her and your feelings for her under the rug and go chasing after women you know couldn't _possibly_ be good for you, who could _never_ be as good as Gillian is, because it's what's easy. And you and I both know that what's easy isn't always right, and what's right is almost _never_ easy. But she is worth it, and I'm telling you right now, if you don't man up and do something about it, someone else will, and then you'll have missed out for good. Are you really willing to take that chance? To lose her?"

Cal was completely dumbfounded by Eli's speech. He hated admitting he was in the wrong, especially to Loker, but when it came to this, to _Gillian_, there was no other choice. "When…did you get smarter than me?" he asked in bewilderment, though an amused smile played on his lips.

"I've always been smarter than you," Eli replied with a smug grin, "Now go do something about it."

Cal didn't have to be told twice. Losing Gillian wasn't an option. He had no idea what he was going to say to her, but he didn't want to waste another minute thinking about it. It was time to be a man, time to own up to what he'd been feeling for years, time to tell her exactly how much she meant to him.

"Gill!" he called out, bursting through her office door, but she wasn't there. "Bloody hell," he muttered, turning and running down the hall, hoping she hadn't gone yet. "Oi! You seen Foster anywhere?" he asked Anna.

"She left a few minutes ago," she replied, and Cal was off. He ran outside and into a downpour. "Bollocks," he said this time, but he kept running, right towards the spot where Gillian always parked. There she was, hiding beneath an umbrella, unlocking her car door. "Oi! Gill!" he shouted, running faster. She turned in surprise, smirking in amusement at the sight of a thoroughly drenched Cal.

"What are you doing? You're going to catch pneumonia," she chastised him, holding out the umbrella a bit so he could join her beneath it.

"I love it when you mothah me," he said with an adoring grin.

"Since when?"

"Listen, Gill, there's somethin' I've gotta tell ya," he began, but she interrupted.

"Cal, let's at least get in the car first," she tried to insist, but he shook his head, adamant.

"No, I've gotta get this out, just listen, alrigh'?" he took a deep breath, "I know I've been muckin' things up with you lately, and I think you have a right to know why. I—well, you see, I—it's like this, Gill: you're the real deal. And I was scared of that, right? Cause you know, you're _you_, and you're perfect, and I'm—well, look at me, yeah?" he said with a chuckle, "But the thing of it is, I mean, what I really wanna say is…I don't want any more viceroys. I just want you," he finally admitted, feeling like a weight had been lifted from his chest.

"You…what?" she asked in confusion, her heart beginning to race at the prospect of what this meant.

"Your thing is bettah," he said with a grin, "_All_ your things are, everything about you, and I know I can be a real bastard sometimes, and I don't always tell you how great you are, but…you are, Gill. Not just _great_, you're…you're amazing, love, and I couldn't be half as successful as I am if I didn't have you. I don't wanna lose you, now or evah. You understand what I'm sayin'?" he asked, his stomach in knots. He wasn't used to being this sentimental, but he knew she deserved the truth, and he wanted to give it to her.

"Do _you_ even understand what you're saying?" she asked, half joking and half serious.

He laughed, "Not really, no. But maybe there's anotha way I can explain it to you," he said, reaching out and cupping her cheeks, pulling her into a kiss. Stunned, the umbrella slid from her grip, and slowly, her arms made their way around his neck. The kiss deepened, neither one caring that they were getting soaked. All that mattered was that the things that had gone unsaid between them for so many years were finally out in the open.

Eli and Ria watched them from the building's entrance, grinning like two kids at Christmas. "Well would you look at that. Mom and dad, together at last," Eli joked, prompting a laugh from Ria.

"It's about damn time," she said, looking over at him with a curious expression, "What did you say to him?"

"I just reminded him of what he already knew," he said with a shrug, "That she's his monarch."

_**Fin**_.


End file.
